Remember when blues state Democrats tried to enforce sweeping pandemic mandates for years after it became clear that covid was not the "mass killer" that the supposed experts claimed it would be? Remember when they called for people to be jailed for publicly speaking about scientific facts that contradicted the narrative? Remember when they called for people's children to be taken away if they refused to vaccinate?
Remember how millions of people left blue states in response to the far-left madness? Well, Democrats are now pretending that none of that ever happened, but they can't hide the continuing consequences of their draconian policies.
The historic population shift that escalated during the pandemic era is still well underway, though the causes are now more economic than political. We recently covered New York Governor Kathy Hochul's sad attempt to beg wealthy NY taxpayers to stop leaving her state. However, New York is only one of multiple blue regions being crushed by an ongoing wealth exodus.
New data from states like Massachusetts indicate that Democrat efforts to institute state level "wealth taxes" are driving out business owners and corporations, and these residents are taking billions in tax revenues with them.
Massachusetts was hit with loss of $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income in 2023, one of the largest totals in the country, after passing a tax on millionaires. The amount was an 8% year-over-year increase, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The state witnessed a net loss of over 41,000 residents in 2022-2023. Keep in mind, this as during the Biden open borders crisis, and over 50,000 migrants also flooded into MA in that same time period.
In other words, even with mass immigration, blue states still lost huge numbers of resident. And, they essentially replaced high earning and wealthy taxpayers with low earning and no-tax migrants.
Other states dealing with a net loss of residents and wealth include:
California, which has led the nation in net domestic out-migration for six consecutive years. In the period July 2024 -July 2025, the state lost approximately 229,000 residents domestically. Previous years saw losses of around 239,000–400,000+ annually. California also lost $11.9 billion in net AGI in 2023 alone.
New York recorded the second-highest domestic losses with 137,586 residents leaving (net) in 2024-2025. IRS data shows significant adjusted gross income outflows, including $9.9 billion lost in one year (2022–2023) and a decade-long net loss exceeding $111 billion.
Illinois suffered a net domestic loss of around 40,017 residents in 2024-2025 (down from higher figures in prior years, but still among the top losers). IL lost a net $6 billion in AGI from 2022 to 2023.
Washington State is on the progressive path the self destruction with multiple new taxes, including a "Millionaires Tax" passed this year which is expected to drive most corporations and moderately sized businesses out of the area. The new law requires a nearly 10% tax on any earners making over $1 million per year.
Other blue states like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Hawaii also top the lists for out-migration of wealthy resident. And where is all this money going? Largely to red states with less taxes and less bureaucracy. The point being that, ever increasing taxation is not the solution to a successful state economy. Only states where people want to live are going to do well.